UK's NHS coronavirus tracing app prevented thousands of deaths, study claims

GeorgeBMac said:

It is not and never has been a "tracing app".   Even Apple and Google removed that language because it was false.

Had western countries established effective testing and tracing programs early on many hundreds of thousands who are now dead would be alive.

But, instead of removing the infectious from our streets, businesses and schools, we were told to huddle in our homes while the virus raged outside our doors.

I mean they call it Exposure Notifications but on their own sites they very much talk about how it helps with contact tracing.

Also… the virus was suppressed outside our doors because we were huddled inside our homes… granted effective test and trace from the outset MAY have prevented that but we actually have no way of knowing that for sure, since the only thing that has really been shown to suppress the spread in any country has included an element of mass isolation

GeorgeBMac said:

But, instead of removing the infectious from our streets, businesses and schools, we were told to huddle in our homes while the virus raged outside our doors.

If we actually HAD all huddled in our homes, the virus would have burnt itself out in 4 weeks since there would have been nobody else it could have infected other than those we lived with. The virus only 'rages' when it has the opportunity to be transmitted.

The whole point of the app is to identify exposure so that the right people 'huddle'. Testing only works if you have a continuous daily testing regime for absolutely everyone. Tracing only works if people can reliably identify who their contacts are. Since no country that calls itself even remotely free can ever hope to achieve that, the app provided a valuable tool for people to be informed of their risk of exposure. It's entirely reasonable to carry out such a statistical exercise to identify the lives saved as a result of people knowing they need to 'huddle' indoors.

r002092 said:

Also… the virus was suppressed outside our doors because we were huddled inside our homes… granted effective test and trace from the outset MAY have prevented that but we actually have no way of knowing that for sure, since the only thing that has really been shown to suppress the spread in any country has included an element of mass isolation

If we actually had done that we would not be dealing with this virus a year later. But that was impossible, people need to get food and groceries, many had to work, many had to care for those that got sick and family members that could care for themselves, many still disobeyed the rules and went out to rallies, parties, and spring breaks, and so on. If all the people that went out actually wore masks and kept social distance, then this virus would have been wiped out in a few weeks. Sadly, many did not believe the virus, much less wearing masks and compromised the rest.

Moreover, if the virus did not spread by asymptomatic carriers, it would be easy to spot who was contagious and keep distant while in public. Contact tracing is to identify those that really need to isolate and follow the rules because someone next to them was asymptomatic, did not wear a mask properly, or kept socially distant and could have potentially transmitted it to the user.

I haven’t read the entire report, but I generally support using contact tracing apps in addition to traditional contact tracing methods.